A Tag to 'Brain Storm'
by dwparsnip
Summary: Not a very imaginative title is it? Anyway, it is what the title says from Jennifer's POV as she waits for rescue. SPOILERS for 'Brain Storm'.


I do not own Stargate Atlantis…if I did there would be a next season. MGM owns it as far as I know.

This is a tag to "Brain Storm", so big spoiler alert for that episode.

Another million thanks to nodoubtfan for looking this over…if my thanks was money you'd be rich.

Any thoughts are welcome.

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_That's what I get for going off on my own,_ Jennifer thought as the water sprayed into the sealed off room from the ruptured pipe. If it wasn't so cold she might have been able to fondly reminisce about her childhood winters growing up in Wisconsin. How many times had she dropped into the fluffy white snow, look up into the sky and move her arms and legs to make snow angels? Far too many to remember. As she hugged herself in a vain effort to ward off the cold and maintain her body temperature however, she realized that despite the number of times she thought she had been cold back then, she had never before been as cold as she was right now. And there was nothing she could do about it but wait.

So she waited.

And she waited some more, and all the while the water continued to pour into the room that had become her prison.

She kept waiting for rescue until the cold had sent her near hypothermic shock.

"Rodney. Can you hear me?" she said into the radio. She was so cold that she never even noticed how unsteady her voice was.

'They got you out of there yet?' he asked anxiously.

Jennifer closed her eyes and shook her head, the rapidly advancing hypothermia making the movements feel sluggish. "No."

She heard him demand something of Tunney and could make out bits and pieces of their conversation. When she heard Tunney say it was going to take time for someone to get to her she said, "It's getting hard…harder to stay awake. I'm going into hypothermic shock."

It was getting so hard to keep her eyes open, to keep her mind from slipping into blissful unconsciousness. And that's where she was headed until Rodney's voice gave her the point she needed to focus her strength on and be able to open her eyes for another few moments.

'Jennifer just…just hang in there all right.'

She was trying with all her might. But as each second ticked by she could feel herself sink deeper and deeper into blackness.

She kept the radio up close to her chest as she began to slide down the wall towards the frigid puddle of water at her feet. Her eyes fluttered closed as she tried with what strength she had left to fend off the beast that was sleep.

As she moved closer to the floor she could hear Rodney's voice from the radio.

'Right, we're here, right?'

'Uh-huh.'

'So we can get to her,' said Rodney. 'It's a straight shot. I mean, they should have come this way, through the lab!'

'They're cut off from us too.'

'Okay, I've gotta go get her.'

Jennifer's weary eyelids slowly parted as she said, _No_, though she didn't immediately realize that it was to herself and not him that she spoke.

'No, wait a minute. We're a little bit busy right now.'

'She'll die.'

'Yeah, but you know what? If the storm keeps up like this, it's gonna rip the building apart and we'll all die.'

_He's right, Rodney,_ she thought as her ass finally touched the water. The radio slipped from her nearly lifeless hands a moment later and made a splash as it joined her in the frigid liquid. _Save them, Rodney,_ she silently implored. She was a doctor, someone trained to save others and to do no harm and, she had come to learn, not let harm be done. _Save them all._

Against her will her eyes closed. It was a scant second later that she felt her hands leave her chest and fall to her side, and try as she might she could not raise them.

So many things raced through her mind as she delved deeper into the dark hypothermic abyss. Images of her father, the one true constant in her life; her mother, who loved her with all of her soul up to the day she died; and her childhood friends who were so instrumental in shaping the person that she was to become. Then the images changed, and perhaps it was indicative of just how important Atlantis had become to her that those images were brighter, crisper and more intense. The faces of her friends and colleagues blazed through her mind one by one: Elizabeth Weir, Samantha Carter and Richard Woolsey- leaders all, running a city in another galaxy, making life and death decisions seemingly on a daily basis and making the city, its inhabitants and two galaxies better for it; Carson, the best boss she could have asked for when coming to a strange galaxy. His compassion and friendship kept her from quitting after her first week; her staff, the best of the best and tremendous colleagues all; Teyla, a true friend and leader who taught her so much about so many things; and Ronon, a warrior and indomitable spirit. She had broken his heart, but she knew she was not meant to be with him. She hadn't meant to hurt him and now she would be unable to explain that to him as she intended to do when he would listen- she hoped that he understood, that he realized that hurting him wasn't her intention at all.

The final placement in her subconscious' image carousel was reserved for the person who meant the most to her, the man she had come to understand as well as she had ever been able to know anyone; the man she had come to respect and adore above all others; and perhaps the man with whom she had the most unfinished business: Rodney. Over time she had learned that his abrasiveness and arrogance was a product of his massive intellect, but that wasn't what he was deep inside. She'd seen him do amazing things and show so many more facets of himself than those two tawdry yet well-known traits. She'd seen his bravery, his sense of humor, his tenacity, his passion, his gentleness and so much more.

_I'm sorry, Rodney,_ she thought, knowing that he couldn't hear her but hoping that someway, somehow he could nonetheless. _I'm sorry I never told you. I'm so, so sorry._

Jennifer's world tilted on its axis and she fell forward and to the right. Through some miracle that her vast medical knowledge would never be able to explain, her hands obeyed the emergency command from her brain to reach out and break her fall. Yet once the mission had been accomplished her arms gave way, making her roll as she fell the rest of the way into the icy water so that she ended up on her side and not face down.

_Forgive me, Rodney,_ she begged as the blackness overtook her weakened mind. _Forgive me…for not telling you…that I love you…_

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Suddenly she could hear a voice in the darkness. It was a frightened voice. It was a frantic voice. It was asking her something, pleading with her she thought, but she couldn't quite grasp the meaning of the words it was saying.

Cold. It was so cold.

And dark.

It was so cold and oh so dark.

Something was happening to her. It was almost as if…

Air exploded into her lungs at a rate and force that made her cough so hard that it hurt her throat. The cough in turn forced her upper body up off the cold floor, and she braced herself for the fall backwards when she felt a hand slip under and support her head.

Her eyes snapped open and darted around her surroundings reminding her where she was and what was happening as another arm went around her.

Then she came face to face with her savior.

"Oh, thank God" said Rodney, his voice thick with worry and relief. "You're okay, you're okay."

"I'm really cold," was the first thing that came from her lips as it began to sink in that Rodney was there holding her, and she was alive.

Rodney began rubbing her arm and the pervasive iciness in her body began to ease ever so slightly.

"Me too," he said.

She hesitated as her brain finished its reboot, and as she began to comprehend what had happened her eyes found his and held them for all she was worth.

"You saved me," she managed through ice cold lips.

Rodney smiled and said as he continued to try to rub some warmth into her arm, "Guess that makes us even. I used an axe- a big axe! I mean, I really wish you were conscious, 'cause I think it's the coolest thing I've ever done in my..."

She leaned forward and kissed him, her joy at being alive and the knowledge that Rodney cared enough to do so much to save her filled her with warmth from the inside out.

She didn't know what to expect when she stopped kissing him, so she studied him carefully when she leaned back to look at him again. She had no idea whatsoever about what he'd say or do, but there was no doubt that she was deeply touched and thrilled when he said, "I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you."

She knew that in the future there would be many things she would remember about this day, but one of the things she knew she would never forget would be the love in his eyes and the sincerity in his voice as he spoke those words.

Her 'dying thought', her regret at not telling Rodney how she felt about him, flashed in her mind, bringing home the realization that she had been given a chance to rid herself of that regret and make right the wrong she almost did to Rodney by denying him that knowledge. She didn't even consciously make the decision to tell him. She simply looked into his eyes and the words flowed from her lips as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "I love you."

She gave him a second to digest the bombshell she just dropped on him, and then she spoke the same words to him that he said to her on that fateful day in Atlantis. "I have for some time now. Just wanted you to know."

She waited as Rodney smiled at her, and she knew then and there that she'd made the right decision, not that she made any decision at all really. Her heart had been in control, and her heart knew what it felt and who it felt it for.

Rodney opened his mouth and said, "I ..."

But she cut him off with another kiss. She stopped the kiss a moment later and rested her weary head against his for second before leaning back. He looked at her for several seconds, and in that short time she could see a myriad of emotions flicker through his eyes. Relief, shock, joy and, of course, love.

Her body shook as a shiver started at her shoulders and worked its way down to her feet, reminding them both that it was freezing inside the building and there was a crisis in the works.

It seemed to snap Rodney's attention back to the issue of the out of control Space-Time Bridge for his eyes bulged open and he exclaimed, "We have to get to the control room!" He gave her an appraising look and asked, "Do you think you can walk?"

She opened her mouth to tell him that she would try when a series of rapid footfalls made them turn towards the end of the hallway that they were sitting in. To her relief Malcolm Tunney and two security guards turned the corner and ran towards them.

Before she or Rodney even had a chance to ask, Tunney held his hands out in a gesture of utter pride. "I did it!" he exclaimed excitedly and bouncing around on the balls of his feet in a masterful impression of a giddy schoolgirl. He must have caught something in Rodney's eyes because he stilled himself and added, "I mean we…we did it." Tunney turned towards Jennifer and said, "Are you okay?"

Jennifer managed a smile. "I will be as soon as I get off this freezing floor," she said with as much humor as she could, which wasn't very much at all if the mortified look on Tunney's face was any indication.

"Right!" exclaimed Rodney as he wiggled around and got up onto his knees and then his feet. He reached his hands out and held them open to her.

She reached up and placed her smaller hands in his, though she wasn't able to hold onto him with any great amount of strength. She would have to trust that he would be able to have enough strength for the both of them…and she did so without an ounce of doubt. After all, didn't he just use an axe to cut through a door, move her out of a freezing cold and very wet room and then bring her back to life?

"Ready?" he asked, and when she nodded he counted. "One, two, three!"

A moment later her head started to spin as she found herself on her feet with Rodney's arms snugly around her waist supporting her. She reached around him as well and cuddled into his neck as she waited for the dizziness to subside.

"Are you okay?" his concerned voice asked in her ear.

"I am now," she replied softly. She leaned back and found his worried eyes scrutinizing her intently. "I'm okay," she reassured him. "Can we go now?"

Rodney gave her a smile and said, "Absolutely."

Rodney's arms loosened around her waist and gentle pressure from his hands turned her so that she was facing in the right direction. She felt his left arm tighten around her lower back and smiled gratefully at him when his free hand reached over to gently grasp her right hand.

"Let's go," he whispered and she nodded her readiness to him.

Her first steps were unsteady, as one might expect with what she'd been through, but with his help it didn't take long for her strides to gain confidence and strength. She turned her head enough to watch him and smiled at the intense concentration on his face as he supported and guided her along the hall.

He had saved her life. He loved her. And she loved him.

She lovingly squeezed his hand, eliciting another smile from her knight in shining armor. When his gaze shifted forward again she leaned her head over and rested it against his shoulder as they continued along the hall, and continued on towards a future with the man who had managed to win her heart.


End file.
